But five years later, says Puddington, the beginnings of a two-tiered post-Communist world were already visible. "All of the Baltic and Central European countries were designated as free, and most Balkan countries (after) years of bloody conflict were partly free ... By contrast, one non-Baltic former Soviet country, Ukraine, was designated as free, four were ranked partly free and seven not free." The trend to autocracy was worst in Belarus and the Central Asian republics, where despotic regimes and rigged elections succeeded communism. Full Article at Toronto Star